India's religious tolerance lauded

Buddhist spiritual leader and Nobel laureate Dalai Lama has said that the India’s religious tolerance is unique and other countries have a lot to learn from it.

Delivering a discourse on ‘The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism’ on the occasion of the first anniversary of Buddha Vihara here on Saturday the Tibetan leader in exile said that religious tolerance of ‘Aryabhoomi,’ a reference to India found in Mahabharata, has been in existence in this country from thousands of years. “Not only Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism which are the native religions but also Christianity and Islam have flourished here. Religious tolerance is inherent in Indian tradition,’’ Dalai Lama said.

“`There may be a few differences. Constructive criticism of any religion is acceptable. But the basic tenets such as love, compassion, truth, brotherhood etc remain the same in all religions,’’ he added.

Dalai Lama said that there was not much difference between Hinduism and Buddhism except in a few aspects.Large number of people including those from the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and different parts of Karnataka had arrived to listen Dalai Lama.

Dalai Lama is on a two-day visit to Gulbarga exclusively for delivering religious discourses at the newly built Buddha Vihara. He had visited the Vihara in January this year.